What would you do?

[Blondie]

Hi everyone,

Would you sacrifice your home i.e sell it, to ease financial stress?

DH is at Uni and working casual. I work 3 days a week. Short of me going back to work full time and then putting DS in Childcare full time I am not sure what else to do to try and make ends meet? We are paying off our house and it's costing us between $600 and $700 per week and I think this is killing us. Is it worth the sacrifice of giving up our home for financial freedom whist Hubby is studying? This year was tough, there will be another 3 of the same thing I am worried we will end up going backwards and all will turn to crap if we continue down this path

[LuluHB]

I would do everything I possibly could, including working two jobs, before I would sell my home but that's me. One of the biggest things I crave is the stability of MY home. I've had financial stress previously when I was on my own paying a mortgage but not for a second did I consider selling it. If you sell you'll lose so much money because despite the best intentions, you will no doubt eat away at any capital you have and then you're way behind when you have to start over again in a few years. Its hard though - money only goes so far and your own home is less important than feeding everyone. Have you looked into what sort of money you would be paying out in rent, location and condition of rentals etc? I would need to be making significant savings to consider it.

Are there other things in your regular spending you can look at cutting back on? Even a coffee bought out every day really adds up

[Blondie]

I have done a bit of research and it seems as though we would be paying $400 a week for a suitable home. I agree the thought of loosing this place is devastating as we worked very hard for it, but if DH doesn't pass UNI or gives up on it, all this sacrifice will be worth nothing. I was considering going back full time after an appropriate amount of time once second bub is born but with the cost of childcare for 2 kids, I wouldn't be making that much extra. I would also have to find another job because the option for full time work just isn't there in my current place of employment. Another thing, I don't think DH would want me to work full time, he knows how much I do around here and if he had to take any extra work on, well let's just say he couldn't this decision is absolutly tearing me up

[Astrid]

What can you rent your home out for? Enough to cover the mortgage? Then you could rent somewhere cheaper.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I would second renting out your home then renting a small, cheap flat. Or considering working full-time. Or trying to do a work-from-home job on your days off, or having your DH do something in the evening - evening jobs are very doable with studying, many students do them.

Is it "tough but we can do it without luxuries" or "so tough we can't actually cover the mortgage, taxes and baseline bills, let alone affording to eat"? If it were the former, I'd suck it up.

ATM I'm looking for work. DH and I are considering me working abroad, leaving DH and Liebling at home while I work for 6 weeks in another country, then fly home for a week or two, then fly back. Just for a year, but enough to get some funds behind us so we don't lose the house. DH doesn't WANT me to work abroad, nor does Liebling, but we also don't want to lose a home we've worked damn hard for and won't be able to get back if we do lose it. Lesser of two evils.

[chody47]

I agree that if you can afford not to sell then keep your home. You'll not only lose money through selling in real estate fees, but setting up a new loan in a few years time will also cost you many thousands of dollars in fees and stamp duty etc. if you average all these costs out per week over the next few years you might find you're actually 'saving' money by keeping your house. As others have said though, if its a case of having food on the table or not, I'd sell in a heartbeat. I do understand your feelings though. We've tossed up the idea of buying a cheaper house but quickly decided against it.

[YoYo]

I would do whatever you can to help ease the stress of covering the mortgage, but I wouldn't sell.

Sounds to me like you've come up with a fair solution, but if you want to work a little extra, then every little bit helps.

Good luck. Hope things get better for you soon

[Lenny]

Can you work weekends - As a swim teacher? Can you work late evenings - night fill? Can DH do these things?

It might sounds really rubbish, but if you are resolute about not selling your home, then you have to increase your income. Especially with a baby on the way.

[AnyDream]

Speak to your bank, there may be a way to restructure your loan, eg longer repayment period, to take the pressure off.

[Blondie]

At the moment DH is working casual arvo/night shift so I couldn't do any night work, weekends are out because he works Friday, Saturday and some Sunday's. Really my only option is Monday and Tuesday's.

Re-financing might be an option if he was still on a big income. Being on a casual income the banks wouldn't accept us.

We didn't speak about it any more last night. I am not sure how to bring it up again with him, I just want to know what steps are being taken to get this under control. I might let him think on it a few days (my DH does a lot of internal contemplation) and then bring it up once exams are over and Uni is finished for the year in November. He might be in a more relaxed state of mind and might be actually able to make a decision.

Thnaks everyone for your advice. Sometimes it's hard to come up with idea's when you have too many emotional issues in play.

[Rowellen]

That amount for childcare seems excessive. I'm assuming that is the full price. Do you get CCB & CCR?

Does your DH look after your DS when he is not at work? Is it possible that you could work extra days for a while, and your DH look after your DS those days?

[Blondie]

We do get CCB and CCR now, but that has only taken effect recently. It does help, hopefully once bub #2 comes along it will be more helpful

DH goes to Uni full time during the day and works during the nights so looking after DS during the day wouldn't work for us.

Does anyone know if you can make an appointment with a persona from Centrelink to discuss entitlements? Talking on the phone with them is so annoying, I don't know what others experiences are like but I keep getting told different things everytime I call now I have started asking for a reference number for the call.

[Cherished]

Hi Blondie, In short yes. We built our house 4 years ago and 12 months ago we put it on the market, We LOVE our house, it has everything we need, it's new, big and just awesome! But selling it was the best thing to do. The market turned to the crapper though and we couldn't sell it so after 4 months we took it off the market as ds was walking by then and getting it ready for inspections was a NIGHTMARE!